


Razed and Black

by MYuzuki



Series: Walking in the Shadows [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24502963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: The truce between the Senju and Uchiha clans is holding, for now. But even with tenuous peace between the clans, danger still looms. Life is dangerous, after all, and the life of a shinobi is more dangerous still.When word begins to spread of a mysterious tomb to the west, along with rumors of skeletons and corpses walking the roads, both Clan Heads agree that an investigation into the matter much be launched.Tobirama and Kagami have the dubious honor of being chosen for the mission.[A sequel toDark Offerings.]
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Kagami
Series: Walking in the Shadows [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770403
Comments: 15
Kudos: 104





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh…I went back and was reading some of my old Tobirama/Kagami fics, specifically the one where they team up to save some children from being used as blood sacrifices for a clan of demon-worshippers (it was written for Spook Fest, don’t judge me!), and that got me into thinking what else I might write in that ‘verse (because the concept of the Naruto world with some dark fantasy elements appeals to the part of my brain that thrives on fantasy & urban fantasy stories). And then I was reading some horoscope posts and the one that inspired this story sort of jumped out at me. 
> 
> Ultimately, this somehow turned into a sequel to Blood Offerings where Tobirama and Kagami go on another joint mission and somehow get themselves embroiled once more in mysterious and not-quite-normal happenings. Enjoy!

* * *

_**[** _ _**A tomb. Who knows to what or who. The ground around here is razed and black.]** _

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Kagami is dozing off on top of his backlogged paperwork when Izuna finds him, and he grimaces when he lifts his head from his desk only for a requisition report to stay stuck to his face as he does so.

Izuna, being a brat despite being heir to one of the most powerful shinobi clans in existence, snickers at him. "That's a good look for you."

Kagami peels the paper from his cheek and levels Izuna with a glare.

Izuna just gives an unrepentant grin, dark eyes amused.

Kagami relents with a huff, rolling his eyes. "Was there something you actually needed, Izuna? Or did you just come here to harass me?"

(His casual tone when addressing the heir of the clan would likely give the elders fits, but honestly that just makes Kagami more inclined to eschew formality; the elders have never liked Kagami, and the feeling is entirely mutual.

Besides, he and Izuna are relatively close in age; addressing him as anything other than a peer would just be awkward for them both.)

"Not _just_ to harass you," Izuna replies easily, "although that is a good side benefit."

Kagami snorts. "What do you want, Izuna? And if you're trying to prank your brother again, so help me-"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Izuna assures him hastily. "Madara does want to speak to you, though," he adds, expression shifting into something sharper and more serious, reminding Kagami that for all his playful smiles and ridiculous antics Izuna is still, at his core, a dedicated and skilled shinobi.

Kagami feels his eyebrows climb towards his hairline. "Do you know why?" he asks, because while Kagami is a skilled shinobi in his own right he's still from a branch family; Madara has only personally summoned him a handful of times and only ever for emergencies. They've crossed paths more than a few times, of course, but Kagami hasn't had much one-on-one interaction with his Clan Head since he'd returned from the Sugihara mission.

(In fact, he's pretty sure they've only spoken once since then, and it had been decidedly brief.

"You did well, bringing the children home safely," his Clan Head had said, and while Madara isn't typically one given to displays of emotion that aren't anger -a holdover from his childhood, Kagami suspects, when softer emotions were considered an unforgivable weakness in a boy who was destined to lead the esteemed Uchiha Clan- even Kagami had been able to see the stark relief in his expression. "Good job."

"I had help," Kagami had reminded him, and Madara's face had done something complicated. "I couldn't have succeeded without Tobirama's assistance."

"Tobirama," is all Madara had said at first, his tone an intriguing combination of distaste and grudging admiration before he huffed out an aggravated sigh. "He knows," he had said next, his voice lowering down so as to not be overheard. "About your Mangekyō."

Kagami had blinked once, twice, three times. Had been unsure as to how to respond, because while he hadn't _told_ Madara the specifics as to how he and Tobirama had gotten the entire Sugihara clan to kill themselves, Madara is one of the very few people privy to Kagami's full capabilities and he is, despite appearances, a genius in his own right.

And it doesn't take a genius to do the math when it comes to a mass suicide and a man who can brainwash with a glance.

"Tobirama knows," Kagami had confirmed, and followed it up with, "I trust him." Because it was the truth. He trusted Tobirama not to betray his confidence; he couldn't explain it, but he felt it in his bones.

Madara hadn't replied to that, had just given a low hum and wandered off, presumably to meet with Hashirama, and Kagami hadn't thought of it again.)

"He has a mission for you, I think," Izuna says now, the sound of his voice drawing Kagami out of his introspective musings. "Wouldn't tell me what it was, but I assume it's important if he wants to talk to you about it first."

Kagami concedes the point with a nod. "I'll go see him now," he replies, shuffling aside the papers on his desk to find the weapons pouch he'd discarded on his desk earlier in the day; he's pretty sure there's a tea cup and his breakfast plate buried somewhere in there, too, but he's not going to dig through the heap of reports and forms to find them.

(He's thrilled with the peace between his clan and the Senju clan, he truly is, but he hadn't anticipated the truly obscene amounts of paperwork that would result simply from not being actively in the middle of a war.

Mission reports and requisitions are nothing new, but now everything needs to be in triplicate for some reason that Kagami can't fathom. And somehow he's expected to keep on top of it all while still running missions on a regular basis, some of which take him away from the compound for weeks at a time. It's _absurd_.)

Izuna waves him off and Kagami wastes no time to heading for Madara's office across the compound. He passes by one the smaller training grounds as he goes, and smiles when he catches sight of Yukari and Shinji experimenting with some of the katas they learned the week before.

(He tries not to think about how close the two of them -and all the other children- had come to death, nearly sacrificed by the Sugihara. It's been almost five months now, but part of Kagami still goes ice cold at the thought of Yukari's bright light being snuffed out.

He'd made a promise to her older sibling to look after her, should the worst happen on the battlefield, because there was no one else.

The worst had happened, and Kagami was determined to keep the promise he'd made to his friend.

He was hardly an adequate replacement for the family that Yukari had lost, but he was trying.)

He reaches Madara's workspace and bows low before his Clan Head. "Izuna said you asked for me, sir?"

"I did," Madara says, setting aside the scroll he'd been reading before Kagami's entrance. "I have a mission for you."

Kagami says nothing, just waits for further explanation, because an ordinary mission doesn't warrant a briefing with the Clan Head himself beforehand.

Madara snorts, like he knows exactly what Kagami's thinking. "I wanted to discuss the matter with you first, given the circumstances."

"The circumstances?" Kagami echoes, glancing up with a curious look.

"It's another joint mission between the Uchiha and the Senju," Madara informs him.

"Oh," is Kagami's automatic response, because while there's peace between the two clans, it's not like there's an off switch for the enmity they've had for each other all these years. There simply isn't enough trust after generations of warring against each other for most clan shinobi to work alongside one another without incident. Things are better than they were, without a doubt, but it's indisputably a work in progress; Kagami can count on one hand the number of successful joint missions and still have fingers left over.

"Oh," Madara echoes, tone dust-dry as he shakes his head. "Look, you don't have to take it if you don't want to, but I figured you were probably the best choice given who the Senju are sending."

This is probably the part where Kagami is supposed to sit quietly and wait for his Clan Head to fill him in on whatever pertinent details he feels like sharing, but while Kagami is loyal to his clan and to his leader he's never been good at reining himself in when his curiosity is piqued. "Who is it?"

"Tobirama," Madara replies, his tone once again the one he always seems to use when talking about Hashirama's brother, that tone of disgruntled respect. Kagami suspects that the two of them will never get along, but the outright hatred seems to have faded in the last few weeks as the Uchiha and Senju both take steps to ensure that the tenuous peace between them turns into something more lasting, something permanent.

Kagami, meanwhile, can't quite keep a little smile from creeping onto his face. "If it's Tobirama they're sending, then I probably am the best choice," he agrees, because he _is_. Most Uchiha are still wary of Tobirama, still suspicious and resentful of a man who has killed so many of their clansmen on the field of battle. Still distrustful (and sometimes even fearful) of a man who seems cold and sharp and as merciless as Death itself.

But Kagami has spent a considerable amount of time with Tobirama in the recent weeks, meeting up for meals and training whenever their schedules and duties allow, and at this point Kagami can't think of the other man with anything other than admiration and fondness (although occasionally amused exasperation slips in, usually when Tobirama forgets to sleep for five days in a row because he's working on a new jutsu and Kagami has to go drag him out of his research lab).

It's hard to be suspicious and wary of a man when you've seen him groggily mumble about summoning seals and chakra displacement before passing out on top of his desk, after all.

(And if Kagami's feelings for Senju Tobirama are perhaps something more than platonic, well. That's not really anyone's business but his own, is it?)

"Hmph," is Madara's succinct response to Kagami's assertion, but he tellingly doesn't argue the point.

"If I may ask, sir, what is the mission?" Kagami asks now. "I assume it's something of importance, otherwise the Senju wouldn't be sending Tobirama." After all, Tobirama is his brother's heir, and second in command when it comes to the leadership the Senju; he goes on missions like the rest of them, but for him specifically to be chosen for something implies a certain level of urgency.

"You assume correctly," Madara replies, his face dropping into a more severe expression as he reaches for another scroll and unfurls it. "There have been strange reports coming in from the west, and Hashirama and I thought it would be prudent to launch an investigation."

Kagami frowns. "Reports of what?"

Madara purses his lips, like he's debating whether or not to say whatever he's thinking, but after a moment shakes his head with a sigh. "Apparently some sort of strange tomb has been discovered in a valley to the west. Not necessarily worth sending someone out, but we've also heard rumors of…unusual happenings in the area."

"Unusual happenings," Kagami repeats, arching an eyebrow.

"Walking corpses have been sighted in the woods near the tomb," Madara says in answer to the unspoken question. "And skeletons shambling along the roads nearby, at least according to the merchant caravan that passed through the area."

Kagami's mind goes blank for one long moment as he tries and fails to envision such a thing. "I can see why the Senju have chosen to send Tobirama," is all he can manage to say in the end, because Tobirama is the closest thing to an expert in necromancy that the shinobi world has.

The Edo Tensei isn't something that Kagami has ever seen Tobirama actually use (and Tobirama himself has said that it's a jutsu of absolute last resort, not something to be taken lightly) but the very fact that it exists is a testament to Tobirama's genius.

If anyone can figure out why there are dead bodies upright and on the move, it's Senju Tobirama.

"You're to rendezvous with Tobirama at the western crossroads," Madara tells him now. "We estimated that the tomb is about five days away, so make sure to pack accordingly."

"Of course, Clan Head," Kagami says, bowing low at the dismissal before turning to leave.

"Kagami?" Madara calls after him just before he steps out the door. "Good luck."

Kagami pauses on the threshold, glances back with a surprised smile. "Thank you," he says, inclining his head in a grateful nod before finally exiting.

He detours back to the training ground to speak with little Yukari about his upcoming absence and make arrangements for her to stay over at a friend's house until he returns from the mission, and then returns to his quarters to throw some supplies into a travel pack.

On a whim, he throws in a scroll on an ancient sealing jutsu that he'd come across on his last mission, because his own clan members hadn't expressed any interest in it and he knows for a fact that Tobirama will find it fascinating.

(If he's giving it away less because he doesn't want it to go to waste and more because he simply wants to see Tobirama's lips curl in that faint little smile he gives every time Kagami gifts him a tattered old scroll or some obscure book that no one else is interested in, well…no one else needs to know that, right?)

The journey to the western crossroads takes him a few hours, because he doesn't have the advantage of Tobirama's Hiraishin, which allows the other man to travel across large distance with ease as long as he has the right seals placed in the right places (and enough chakra to activate them, of course), but when he finally does arrive Tobirama doesn't seem impatient or irritated at the wait.

"Kagami," Tobirama says in greeting. "You look well."

Kagami knows for a fact that he does _not_ , because he's been slogging through paperwork for the last five days in a row and has the shadows under his eyes to prove it, and so he doesn't bother holding in his disbelieving snort. "I look sleep deprived, but thanks," he says dryly. "It's good to see you," he adds, not bothering to tone down the sincerity in his tone because it's the truth; he hasn't seen Tobirama in over a week, the result of conflicting schedules, and Kagami has missed him.

(Missed him more than is perhaps appropriate for a mere friendship, but that's not something Kagami's willing o think about too deeply.)

"The feeling is mutual," Tobirama replies, a faint smile ghosting across his face before his expression turns more somber. "Madara informed ou of the situation in the western valley?"

Kagami gives a low hum of agreement. "He did. Something about dead bodies up and walking around, and some sort of ancient tomb appearing out of nowhere. Sounds like something out of a children's story," he tacks on.

Tobirama arches an eyebrow at him, expression faintly incredulous. "Just what sorts of stories do you Uchiha tell to your children?"

Kagami huffs at him, but doesn't deign responding. "We should get going, before the sun gets much lower in the sky," he says instead, heading for the westernmost path leading away from the crossroads.

Tobirama falls into step beside him, and they start off down the path together. They talk a bit, filling each other in on interesting tidbits of information from their respective clans, but even when their conversations lapse into silence it's never awkward or tense, just comfortable and familiar.

They travel until just after the sun sets, because while both of them are more than capable of traveling at night there's no need to push themselves for a non-urgent investigation mission, and so they set up camp alongside a little stream that's no far from the road.

"How is Yukari doing?" Tobirama asks as he collects some branches and twigs to make a fire. "Is she still mad at Shinji for scuffing her practice sword, or has she forgiven him yet?"

Something in Kagami's chest goes warm and tight over how Tobirama remembers not just the children's names but the things that Kagami has told him about their antics. "She forgave him," he says with a laugh. "Although a bribe involving mochi may have been involved," he confides with a smirk, absently forming a hand-sign before flicking out his fingers to spark a flame within the pile of tinder that Tobirama has assembled.

The low chuckle that Tobirama gives feels like a victory, the warm glow from the fire casting his features into sharp relief in a way that makes Kagami's heart stutter in his chest. "At least they're getting along again," Tobirama replies.

"Thank the gods for small mercies," Kagami says in agreement, recalling Yukari's pouty demeanor for the duration of her falling out with her friend. "The moping was going to be the death me, I swear."

"The mighty Uchiha Kagami, felled by a seven year old," Tobirama says dryly, his tone teasing.

Kagami makes a face. "You have no leg to stand on in this debate, Tobirama; I've seen you spoiling your clan's brats _plenty_ of times. You'd crumple like wet rice paper if one of them so much as made puppy dog eyes at you and you know it."

"I know no such thing," Tobirama declares, a blatant lie if Kagami ever heard one, and turns his attention to stoking the fire. "I can take first watch," he adds a moment later, "if you'd like to catch up on your sleep."

"I feel like I've fallen into some sort of parallel reality," Kagami complains. "Normally it's _me_ telling _you_ that."

Tobirama's smirk is faint but undeniably present. "Be that as it may, of the two of us you seem to need the rest more."

"You can just say I look like death warmed over, you know," Kagami remarks, amused despite himself. "There's no need to dance around the issue; I know you prefer to be direct."

"Perhaps I didn't want to offend your Uchiha pride," Tobirama says dryly.

"The truth isn't offensive, it just is," Kagami returns, sprawling backwards with a grin. "And as it so happens,the truth of the matter is that I am exhausted and will very happily let you take the first watch for tonight." A yawn crawls out of his mouth entirely without his permission to emphasize his words.

Tobirama gives him a look that couldn't be interpreted as anything other than fond. "I'm surprised that Madara allowed you to take this mission, if you're really that tired."

Kagami gives a low hum in response before deciding that maybe it's a good idea to actually muster up some words as well. "It's nothing a few hours of sleep won't fix," he assures his friend. "I've just been stuck playing catch up with all the paperwork that stacked up while I was away on my last mission and it wore me out a bit. Besides, Madara didn't so much allow me as 'request me specifically', so opting out wasn't really an option. Of course," he adds with a small smile, "once he told me the mission was with you I didn't want to to decline anyway, so…" He trails off with a shrug. "Here we are," he concludes.

"Here we are," Tobirama agrees, some sort of complicated emotion flickering across his face before it vanishes, so quickly that Kagami wonders if maybe it was just a trick of the light. "Get some rest," he says next, rummaging through his pack before tossing over a blanket.

Kagami yanks the cloth up over his face to hide his grin, cheeks warm with amusement and affection. "Thanks, Tobirama; that's very sweet of you."

Another wadded up ball of cloth smacks into him a second later, and Kagami peeks out just enough to catch a glimpse of one of Tobirama's spare shirts crumpled into a ball.

"Call me sweet again and I'll throw something much sharper at you," Tobirama warns, but there's no bite to it.

Kagami huffs out a laugh and sits up just enough to toss the shirt back before burrowing back down under the blanket. "If you need something to keep yourself entertained," he says, "there's a scroll in my pack that I think you might find interesting."

He dozes off to the crackle of he fire and the sound of paper unfurling and Tobirama opens his gift.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! Welcome back! Sorry it took me so long to finish this story. ^_^; Anyway, I hope you enjoy the final half of Razed and Black. ;D

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Nothing attacks them that first night, and the following three days are likewise uneventful as they make their way westward.

Things start to get a little strange on the fifth day, though, as they draw closer and closer to the valley where the tomb is supposed to be located.

They come across a large number of dead bodies strewn around in the middle of an open field, with no insects or carrion birds in sight. The smell of rotting flesh is strong, though, enough to make Kagami gag despite a lifetime spent as a shinobi; he wonders why none of the scavengers have dared to approach what should be a veritable feast for them.

"It's strange," Tobirama murmurs as he inspects one of the bodies with clinical efficiency. "There don't seem to be any wounds or injuries; it seems as if this person was in perfect health before they just…dropped dead."

"That is weird," Kagami acknowledges. "Maybe some sort of illness? Might explain why no scavengers have come after the bodies."

Tobirama gives a low hum, but otherwise doesn't respond.

Kagami, well used to seeing Tobirama when he's sunk deep into his own head, leaves him to it and meanders off, checking the perimeter of the area for potential threats or clues about what happened here.

He's towards the edge of the clearing when suddenly one of the bodies rears up off the ground and lunges towards him with a rasping snarl.

Kagami flings himself backwards on instinct even as he shoots off a fireball jutsu that slams straight into the revenant; the creature goes reeling away with an unholy screeching sound that raises the hairs on the nape of his neck, its rotting limbs flailing through the air as its flesh starts to char.

Tobirama is there barely a second later, his impossibly sharp sword slicing through the air and decapitating the revenant in one smooth motion. "Are you alright?" he asks, keen eyes scanning Kagami's appearance.

"I am deeply unsettled but otherwise unharmed," Kagami replies, giving a shudder as the headless body on the ground gives a violent twitch. "What made it attack me like that? Some sort of reanimation jutsu set to trigger if someone gets too close?"

Tobirama purses his lips, re-sheathing his sword as he kneels to inspect the head. "As far as I know, no one other than myself has ever successfully created a jutsu that can reanimate the dead. It's an incredibly difficult thing to even _attempt_ , much less accomplish." He frowns as he glances around at the other bodies once more. "Furthermore, I see none of the special seals that would be needed to force life back into the corpses to get them ambulatory. And if someone had done this using a jutsu," he adds, frown deepening, "the amount of chakra required would be tremendous. Yet I can't sense any residual chakra nearby beyond our own."

Kagami isn't sure he likes where Tobirama's train of thought is headed. "So…not a jutsu, then?"

"I don't believe so, no," Tobirama answers.

"Well…shit." Kagami drags a hand through his hair. "What the hell are we talking about, then? Magic?" His stomach twists itself in knots as he remembers the last time he'd seen something that defied logical explanation. "Like we saw with the Sugihara clan?"

Tobirama pinches the bridge of his nose like he's warding off an impending headache. "As much as I hate to say it, yes, this is probably something similar. Dark sorcery of some kind, I think; necromancy in truth, rather than anything resembling my version of reanimation using Edo Tensei."

Kagami has never before in his life been less happy to hear Tobirama arrive at a logical conclusion than he is right now. "Oh, great. Necromancy. That's…that's wonderful, really."

Tobirama slants him a look, worry tinged with amusement. "Don't tell me you're frightened?"

Kagami scoffs. "Frightened? No. Disturbed? Yes. Very much yes."

"Well, your fire jutsu seem to be effective against them. I don't think you're in any serious dangerous. Think of it as a character building exercise," he adds with a smirk.

Kagami levels him with an unimpressed glare. "You're not funny. I'm going to dump a pot of honey onto Madara's head when I get back, just see if I don't," he adds with a grumble. "This whole mess is his fault. I could be at home doing paperwork right now, instead of investigating _actual necromancy_."

"You hate paperwork," Tobirama reminds him.

"That's not the point, Tobirama, and you know it!"

Tobirama gives a low huff of laughter, and the sound of it dissolves Kagami's aggravation like mist dissipating under the warmth of the sun. "Come," he says, "let's move on and find the tomb; with any luck we can find answers there and put an end to this."

Kagami grumble some more on general principle but ultimately he agrees with Tobirama and so they set off once more.

They come upon the entrance to the valley a short while later, a crevasse that looks like it was brutally carved from the surrounding mountains. It's flanked by two misshapen stone pillars that seem to be carved out of obsidian, if obsidian gave off unsettling vibes that made Kagami want to crawl out of his skin with unease, and he finds himself wondering for the hundredth time what exactly it is they've gotten themselves involved in by taking this mission.

Tobirama, meanwhile, is peering intently as the faded symbols that are etched into the dark tone, his expression intense. "These symbols are unlike anything I've seen before," he says after a moment. "Although they do bear a slight resemblance to writing in some of the books we found in the Sugihara cave complex," he adds almost as an afterthought. "I suppose if these were from a civilization that predated them and was destroyed…" He trails off into a low murmur, fingers tapping the hilt of sword in a distracted gesture as he contemplates the stone pillars.

Kagami considers that theory for a moment, turning it over in his head before giving a shrug. "Hard to say for certain without knowing more," he comments, reaching to rest a hand on Tobirama's elbow and tug him forward. "Come on, let's go into the valley. The tomb can't be much farther now, and there might be answers there."

Tobirama acknowledges this with a nod, and falls easily into step with Kagami, their shoulders brushing in a way that sends little jolts kicking down Kagami's spine, his cheeks warming slightly as he belatedly realizes hos close they're standing to one another.

He's hardly going to complain about it , though. He'd spend all day pressed against Tobirama's side if he could, the elders' crotchety complaints about propriety be damned.

Of course, for that to be possible first he'd have to actually confess to Tobirama how he's attracted to him, and that's far too daunting of a task to contemplate right now, when they're about to visit an ancient tomb that's probably full to bursting with things that will try to kill them.

They make their way through the valley, traipsing through a forest of gnarled trees so old that they have a presence all on their own, eerie and unsettling as their branches seem to reach out towards them like grasping hands.

Twice as unnerving is the fact that no matter how Kagami strains his hearing, he can't hear a single living thing in the forests besides himself and Tobirama; no birds fluttering and chirping overhead, no rabbits rustling in the underbrush, _nothing_.

He finds himself torn between relief and increased wariness when they finally reach the edge of the forest and step out onto the flat grassland that sweeps across the rest of the valley. Relieved, because he can just make out the shape of their destination on the horizon, the tomb a dark smudge on the horizon; that means they don't have much farther to go until they reach it.

The heightened tension chases down that relief and almost swallows it whole, though, because the second they leave the cover of the trees, Tobirama stiffens the way he does when he senses some sort of threat, all deadly grace coiled like a taut spring and ready to leap into action.

"What's wrong?" Kagami asks, voice hushed even though he'd intended to speak at normal volume.

"...I don't know," Tobirama admits after a long stretch of silence, tone grudging and eyes narrowed as he casts his gaze first back at the forest then forward towards the tomb in the distance. "I'm sensing something from up ahead. Some sort of peculiar energy. It's not normal chakra," he adds, mouth turning down into a frown. "Maybe not chakra at all."

Kagami considers that. "Think it has anything to do with those corpses that attacked us earlier?"

"Perhaps," Tobirama acknowledges. "The tomb is supposedly the epicenter of the trouble going on, after all. I suppose we'll simply have to go see for ourselves what's causing it."

"I suppose so," Kagami echoes, and they head for the tomb.

As they draw close enough to make out the true size and shape of it, Kagami finds that even he -a skilled shinobi in his own right but without the sensor skills that Tobirama possesses- can feel something strange in the air around them, a frisson of wrongness that runs edgewise against his nerves. It makes his eyes itch and his lungs feel tight, as if there was some sort of black smoke in the air even though it's a perfectly clear day, the sun just starting to dip towards the horizon as the afternoon shades into early evening.

And there's also the matter of the tomb itself, tall and imposing and built out of that same pitch-black stone as the pillars from the valley entrance. That's not all that's black, either; the ground surrounding the tomb is razed and black, the dirt charred so thoroughly that it looks like nothing will ever grow there again.

Which is deeply unsettling to Kagami for a lot of different reasons. His clan is comprised of shinobi who specialize in fire jutsu; he know a lot of about fire, about the different sorts of flames that exit and the types of heat they throw off.

It takes a considerable amount of heat to leave the ground charred like that, and even more to leave absolutely nothing behind; most wildfires, even the most ferocious ones, leave _something_ behind. Blackened tree trunks, scorched grass, drifts of ash at the very least.

And after enough time has passed, it's normal for life to return to even a badly burned location; the whole purpose of a wildfire, after all , is to clear out dead underbrush and return the nutrients of the fallen leaves and dried up scrub plants to the soil as ash and soot, fertilizing the next generation of plants.

By all rights (and according to everything Kagami knows about fires and their aftermath), there should be _something_ besides the charred earth they're standing on; he's seen plenty of devastating fires and walked the ash-covered fields in their wake, and he knows what to expect, what to look for.

But here? There's nothing but the tomb and the ground it stands upon, burnt black as if a great fireball had come down from the heavens themselves to strike upon the place.

"What's wrong?" Tobirama asks now, as echo of their conversation just moments before.

"I don't like this place," spills from Kagami's mouth before he can take the time to formulate a proper response, the words a knee-jerk reaction to his instinctive unease. "This…isn't right." He kneels down to touch one hand lightly to the ground, and his fingers comes away almost entirely clean save for a slight dusting of dirt; there's none of the sticky-soft soot that his instincts tell him _should_ be there.

Tobirama comes up behind him and rests a hand lightly on his shoulders, squeezing lightly as his crimson gaze flickers back to the temple. "No," he agrees in a low tone. "There's something very wrong about place."

"What are you sensing?" Kagami asks, leaning against Tobirama for a moment as he stands back up, taking comfort from his friend's proximity.

"I'm not sure," he replies, brows drawn down into a faint scowl. "Nothing good, I assume. We need to go inside," he adds after a moment. "Investigate, to see what's causing the strange phenomena in the area."

"That seems like a terrible idea," Kagami remarks, but heads for the carved staircase leading up to the tomb's entrance anyway because as much as he doesn't want to step foot into the creepy mausoleum that's looming above them it _is_ the whole reason that they've come all this way.

And so they ascend the stairs and pry open the heavy doors of the entrance, the thick stone scraping across the ground with a grating sound that echoes strangely off the walls, reverberating down the hallway before it gets swallowed up by the shadows farther in.

The strange feeling that's hanging in the air intensifies the second they step over the threshold, and along with it so does the itching sensation at the edges of Kagami's eyes. He pauses for a moment, rubbing at his face in irritation.

"Kagami?" Tobirama comes up behind him, a faint note of concern in his voice.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," Kagami says, waving a hand dismissively. "Just something in my eyes, I guess, dust or something."

Tobirama gives a noncommittal hum (and Kagami can practically _feel_ his frown), but doesn't comment on the matter any further, and so they head further in.

The halls of the tomb are dark and gloomy, and laid out in no sane pattern that Kagami can discern; some halls split off into multiple directions like the crossroads of a wagon path, while others dead end at doors that go nowhere. At one point he and Tobirama take a right turn, a left turn, and walk straight for hundred yards and then somehow end up right back where they started. And all the while the itching sensation behind his eyes grows, like someone is blowing sand into his face as he walks.

Then, right as they're entering into a room that seem to function as some sort of storage area, the walls lined with shelves that are cluttered with all manner of heavy-looking boxes and ornate urns, a skeleton surges up from the ground, the tattered remnants of its clothing fluttering, and thrusts a wicked-looking dagger towards his throat.

He dodges quickly to the side as the itching in his eyes peaks, and then vanishes entirely as his Sharingan whirls to life entirely without any conscious thought on his part, as if his kekkei genkai is reacting on an instinctive level.

He quickly forms the hand-seal for a fireball jutsu and flings it at the skeleton, which gives a disturbing chattering sound before it crumbles to the floor in a heap of charred bones, inanimate once more.

All in all, the encounter takes perhaps less than thirty seconds, but even so leaves Kagami feeling like he's just run a marathon, his heart racing in his chest and his fingers tingling as he pulls a kunai from the pouch on his belt.

"Are you hurt?" Tobirama demands, coming over to check him for injuries even as he draws his own sword.

"No, I'm fine," Kagami assures him, then, because it seems like something that might be relevant, "My eyes aren't itching anymore."

Tobirama's eyes flicker up to his face, his gaze holding even with Kagami's in a way that inherently speaks of the trust he has in Kagami; most Senju wouldn't dare look into the eyes of an Uchiha for so long, too fearful that they'd be ensnared by the Uchiha's Sharingan. Even now that their two clans are technically allies, those old hatreds and the lingering mistrust born of generations of war between them have left a stigma behind, one that's hard for most people to shake off.

Tobirama doesn't betray so much as the slightest flinch, though, just looks at Kagami steadily, seemingly unbothered by his eyes. "Your Sharingan," he says, voice thoughtful. "The itching went away when you activated it?"

"It activated on its own," Kagami admits, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "But yes."

Tobirama's eyebrows climb towards his hairline. "On its own? You're sure?"

Kagami rolls his eyes, then, because _really_ now. "Yes, I'm sure," he returns dryly.

"Hm," is all Tobirama says at first. "Interesting." Then, "A reaction to something in this tomb, presumably."

Kagami just shrugs, because that seems like a safe assumption to make even if he's got no proof aside from his instincts. "Let's head deeper in," he says instead. "We still haven't come across anything that might be responsible for all these dead things coming back to life, and I for one would very much like to find the source of all this trouble."

"As would I," Tobirama agrees, and so they continue on, encountering a few more skeletons along the way until they finally reach what seems to be the center of the tomb, a gigantic chamber with a massive dais in the center, upon which rests what seems to be an incredibly ornate coffin.

It's carved out of what appears to be pure alabaster, a stark contrast to the dark stone the tomb itself is made of, and there are marking etched into the floor around it, symbols that Kagami has never seen before but which make a thread of unease stir in his gut even so.

"These are very similar to the etchings that were on those pillars," Tobirama comments, once he has a chance to kneel down and inspect them more closely, careful not to touch them. Then he frowns, rocking back on his heel. "Some of these actually seem familiar…"

Kagami gives a matching frown, confused. "Well, yeah. You did just say you saw them on the pillars…?"

"No, these aren't from there," Tobirama mutters. "I wonder…" He slings off his pack and starts rummaging around inside, mumbling to himself all the wile.

Kagami finds himself smiling despite their grim surroundings, wry and unspeakably fond as he watches Tobirama. After a moment, he shakes his head and forces himself to look away, to stop staring at his friend, and instead turns his attention to the rest of the chamber.

There are, he notices after a moment, other coffins lining the room; he hadn't noticed them at first because they're carved out of the same dark stone as the rest of the room (which he really wants to call obsidian if not for the fact that it seem to almost suck in the surrounding light in a way that defies explanation and no chunk of rock he's ever seen does that naturally).

Leaving Tobirama to his own devices for a moment, he goes over to investigate the other coffins, and investigation that's cut short when he takes two steps towards the closest one only for the top to blow off in chunks as the occupant erupts out and starts shambling towards him like something out of a nightmare.

He barely has a chance to blink, then there's a crackle of electricity in the air followed by the unmistakable sound of a sharp blade swinging through the air, and before he knows it Tobirama is there, stabbing his sword forward towards the revenant's chest.

The cadaver gives a harsh croaking sound, but otherwise seems unbothered by the length of steel impaling its body, and shuffles forward more aggressively.

Tobirama curses under his breath, yanking his sword back and then sweeping it forward again in a smooth ark that severs the creatures head from its shoulders.

They don't have time to bask in that victory, however, because it's incredibly short-lived; another revenant bursts forth from another coffin across the room, and Kagami wastes no time in flinging several kunai at it. They all strike true, sinking in its desiccated flesh, but despite the fact that there are knives sticking out of its chest, neck and eyes, the creature continues its advance. Kagami grits his teeth, then remembers the skeleton from earlier, remembers the charred ground outside, and summons a fireball that he hurls across the room.

"Decapitation or fire, then," Tobirama says once the thing collapses to the ground and doesn't move again, the smell of burnt skin and charred bones hanging heavy in the air in a way that reminds Kagami far too much of battles from the Clan Wars that he'd rather forget. "Those seem to be the only way methods that work for sure."

Kagami thinks again of the scorched earth surrounding this place, off how it looked like someone had once upon a time attempted to blast the entire building into cinders, and has to agree. "Seems like it." Then he recalls what Tobirama had been up to before they'd been beset upon by shambling corpses intent on killing them. "Did you figure out anything about those symbols?"

"Ah! Yes, I think I did," Tobirama says, his eyes lighting up in that special way they do when he's working on a puzzle or crafting a particularly clever new jutsu.

(Kagami loves that look, because it adds a layer of vibrancy to Tobirama that's normally buried under professional stoicism and the layers of aloofness that he wears like a shield against the rest of the world, who all too often look at the second-in-command of the Senju clan and see only his reputation as the deadliest shinobi of their generation.)

"It's actually thanks to that scroll you gave me," Tobirama tells him, heading back over to where he'd left his pack. Stooping over for a moment, he retrieves a familiar roll of parchment and come back over to Kagami's side. "It was mentioned that some of these sealing jutsu were used a long time ago, to seal away a great evil. A _very_ long time ago," he goes on, pointing to a particular patch of writing on the scroll that just looks like neatly written gibberish to Kagami. "Whoever wrote this scroll seems to have copied over part of a firsthand account about the event. Here's the translation," he adds, pointing to another chunk of writing, this time done in characters that are archaic but recognizable enough for Kagami to make them out.

"Something about a month-long eclipse and a field of corpses," Kagami murmur, squinting at the lettering carefully. "And a- what's this word?" He points to a combination of characters that he's never seen arranged quite like that before.

"It's an old term," Tobirama tells him. "I've only seen it a couple of times before, in old books my brother inherited from our mother. I believe it translates into something like 'place of worship', although I think I stumbled across an alternate translation once that equated more to something like 'place of sealed power'."

Kagami gives a thoughtful hum, slotting that in alongside everything else they've learned so far. "So…some sort of temple, then?" He thinks back to the ornate entrance of the tomb, the wide sweeping stairs that lead up to it and the sheer expansiveness of the place. "You think the event mentioned in the scroll happened here," he realizes, a trickle of foreboding creeping down his spine.

"I do," Tobirama says, expression grave. "It talks about some sort of sorcerer, who held his worshipers in thrall. And according to this," he gestures to the scroll again, " 'their allegiance to their lord was such that it would last unto eternity, through this life and the next'. Evidently," he continues, "some shinobi from a faraway land traveled here, and witnessed this sorcerer slaying a group of dissidents and then raising them form the dead as part of his 'corpse army'."

"Charming," Kagami comments, not bothering to hide his shudder because even Tobirama who'd created the Edo Tensei has enough good sense to not create an actual army of the dead. "I take it the shinobi took exception to it?"

"Oh, they most certainly did," Tobirama replies. "They took it upon themselves to slay the sorcerer before he could terrorize anyone else. But apparently the mystical energy left over from his necromancy was so great that it continued to radiate out from this place, bringing the dead back to life even with no one to direct the power."

"Delightful."

"Mm. According to this account, the only way for them to put a stop to it was to use a series of incredibly strong sealing jutsu to trap the power inside. But there's a flaw in the sealing matrix they designed," Tobirama goes on, frown deepening as he peers more closely at the scroll.

Well, that doesn't sound very good. "What sort of flaw?" Kagami asks in trepidation.

"The underlying structure of the primary seal has some minor defects relating to it endurance," Tobirama tells him. "Specifically, how long the seal will remain intact before failing."

Kagami huffs out a short sigh, because he may not be brilliant like Tobirama but he's hardly an idiot; he can read between the lines. "Let me guess," he says, "the primary seal they used on this place to keep the bad magic contained has finally failed, right? And that's why we've got murderous skeletons wandering the halls and shambling corpses attacking travelers on the nearby roads."

"Unfortunately, yes," Tobirama say, mouth pursed unhappily.

Kagami scrubs a hand through his hair, not entirely sure why he and Tobirama keep ending up saddled with these truly absurd missions involving old arcane practices shrouded in death and darkness but resigned to the fact that they're going to have to be the ones to deal with this latest mystical mess. "So, what do we do? Seal the place again?"

Tobirama shakes his head again. "I don't know if that will be enough," he says, looking faintly frustrated. "Even if I could duplicate the technique they used-"

"You can," Kagami says firmly, because Tobirama is without a doubt the foremost expert on sealing jutsu currently alive, not counting some of the Uzumaki matriarchs.

"Even if I can," Tobirama continues, "a seal alone won't solve the underlying problem; we'd just be doing what those shinobi did hundreds of years ago, hiding the problem away for someone else to deal with later."

Kagami curses under his breath,then pauses as an idea occurs to him. "The problem is that the necromantic power seeped into this place, right? Meaning that the temple itself is what's raising the revenants and causing them to attack people."

(There's an adjacent thought attached to that, about how it's almost as if the necromancer's fury and bloodlust and hunger for power are still present in some fashion, driving the energy that's spilling out from his abandoned temple, but it's a thought that's unsettling in a whole host of different ways so Kagami carefully and deliberately locks it away in a corner of his mind next to other unsettling thoughts he doesn't like to linger on overmuch.)

Tobirama seems to consider that for a moment, then nods. "A bit of an oversimplification, but true enough."

"So…why don't we just blow it up. Think about it," he goes on hastily, when all Tobirama does is stare at him blankly. "The shinobi who came here all those hundreds or years ago weren't as advanced as we are now. Sure, they had some nifty sealing jutsu, but I bet they hadn't invented anything like exploding tags yet. So what if we fill this place with as many exploding tags as possible, blow it sky high, and then put a brand new seal over whatever's left."

Tobirama opens his mouth, closes it, then startles Kagami by bursting out laughing. "That," he says a moment later, still slightly breathless and chucking a bit, "is such an Uchiha response to a problem."

Part of Kagami wants to bristle in offense on general principle, but there's only fondness in Tobirama's tone, something warm and affectionate in his red eyes, so he lets it go. "Be that as it may," he says, with as much dignity as he can muster, "it's not a bad idea."

"No, it's not," Tobirama agrees, gaze drifting back to the dais in the center of the room, and Kagami can practically hear the gears start to turn in his friend's head. "That coffin seems to be the epicenter of the power," he notes, stepping towards the object in question even as he pulls out another scroll and extracts a fistful of exploding tags from the storage seal that's inked on the paper. "We'll put the majority of the tags here, and then the rest on the key structural points of the temple itself. With any luck, we should be able to reduce the whole thing to rubble."

"And once that's done, you can put a snazzy new seal over what's left," Kagami finishes.

"Exactly," Tobirama says, and so they set to work plastering exploding tags all over the sorcerer's coffin, the support pillars of the central chamber, and every other flat surface that looks even remotely important when it comes to the infrastructure of the temple-turned-tomb. Then they head back to the chamber entrance and Kagami uses a park of his chakra to call a flicker of flame to his fingertips.

"Ready?" he asks, eyeing the paper tags scattered throughout the room and wondering for a moment if maybe they'd gone jut slightly overboard.

Then his gaze catches on the coffin in the center of the room again, and feels his Sharingan react, whirling and spinning as if it senses the threatening energy emanating from it, and decides that overkill is the only way to go when dealing with creepy necromancers and their creepy magic that stubbornly persists even after death.

"Ready," Tobirama affirms, and Kagami flings the the fire into the center of the room, where it strikes a pile of exploding tags

The ensuing inferno would probably be enough to reduce _them_ to cinders along with the necromancer in his coffin if not for Tobirama's quick reflexes; he snatches at Kagami's elbow yanks him backwards, and then there's a crackle of ozone and a flash of light as his friend uses his teleportation jutsu to get them even farther away down the hall. At that point, it's just a matter of running for their lives before the tomb collapses down around their ears, and both Kagami and Tobirama are more than passingly familiar with needing to be fast to survive.

In any case, they manage to make it out of the tomb before all the exploding tags go off, thanks largely to Tobirama's liberal use of his Hiraishin. They hurtle out of entrance just before the entire structure comes crashing down, and Kagami watches on in fascinated horror as the land itself seems to swallow up the ruined remnants of the tomb.

There's a moment where neither of them says anything, where the only sounds are the rumbling of the ground and the whisper of the wind. Kagami glances over at Tobirama, and his breath catches in his throat at the sight of him, his heart flipping over in his chest.

The pale glow of the rising sun makes Tobirama look even more striking than usual, highlighting the angles and contours of his face in a way that makes him look like something straight out of an ancient legend, the kind about impossible heroes slaying unbeatable monsters.

_Beautiful_ , Kagami thinks, and it's true despite the edge of lethality that clings ti Tobirama like a second skin, despite the streaks of dirt and blood on his pale skin.

Kagami has experienced attraction before, but it occurs to him (perhaps somewhat belatedly) that what he feels for Tobirama is something different, something _more_. It's like a bonfire burning where before there was only a single candle-flame. It makes his heart stutter and thrum like there's a hummingbird trapped within his ribcage.

He's not entirely sure when exactly he went and fell in love with his friend, but the truth of it slams into him with all the subtlety of a brick to the face.

I wan to kiss him, Kagami realizes with a start, and swallows hard against the sudden lump in his throat because he can't.

He's not going to risk his friendship with Tobirama just because he went and caught romantic feelings like an idiot.

And it's not like anything could ever really happen between them anyway, so it's _fine_. Really.

Tobirama is the younger brother of the Senju Clan Head, after all, and a brilliant and talented shinobi on top of it. And Kagami…Kagami is no one, really. The orphaned son of an Uchiha branch family, too valuable to cast out but not important enough to keep close, at least according to his clan's elders. He's a skilled shinobi in his own right, one of the best of his generation, but Tobirama deserves better than someone him.

Tobirama deserves _the_ best, and as much as Kagami wishes it were otherwise he's well aware of the fact that that person isn't him.

_It's fine_ , he tells himself firmly. _Having his friendship is already more than enough. It's fine._

Tobirama finally seems to notice Kagami looking at him, and glances over with a raised eyebrow. "Something wrong?" he asks, his tone a mixture of concerned and curious.

"Nothing," Kagami says hastily, heat creeping up his neck and into his cheeks. "It's nothing, I'm fine. I just-" _Want to kiss you_ , his traitorous mouth almost says but he bites down on the words before they can escape. "I'm just tired," he says instead, and even to his own ears it sounds like a lame response.

"Tired," Tobirama repeats, looking faintly amused. "Really."

"Of course I'm tired, it's been a tiring day!" Kagami exclaims, crossing his arms defensively and trying not to pout. "Not only did we fight walking corpses and aggressive skeletons, we explored the creepy ancient tomb they originated from. And then we blew it up, and had to run for our lives to escape the ensuing collapse! I'm allow to be tired after all of that, aren't I?"

Tobirama tips his head in acknowledgment, lips curving into a more obvious smile, something knowing in his gaze. "Of course," he agrees. "That would explain your flushed face as well, I suppose" he adds a moment later, tone dust-dry. "All that exertion."

"I-" Kagami sputters inelegantly, tripping over his own tongue in a way he hasn't since adolescence. "What are you-"

Tobirama rolls his eyes and reaches out, one slender hand clutching the collar of Kagami's shirt and dragging him closer. "You're an idiot," his friend informs him, his fond tone turning the words affectionate rather than biting. "There's no need to stand there pining like some lovelorn maiden when I'm standing right here."

Kagami heart does a flip in his chest, something that might be hope sparking to life inside of him. "Tobirama, I-"

"Kagami," Tobirama says, exasperated ad amused in equal measure, "stop talking." And then he tubs Kagami just that little bit closer and fits their mouths together.

Kagami's entire world grinds to a halt, everything narrowing down to this moment and the feel of Tobirama pressed against him, warm and familiar and perfect.

Kagami's not entirely sure how long the kiss lasts, too caught up in it register anything other than the sensation of Tobirama's lips against his, the feel of Tobirama's hands on his skin.

"Wow," is all Kagami can think of to say when they finally need to part for air an indeterminable amount of time later, feeling vaguely dazed (but in a decidedly good way, of course).

"Indeed," Tobirama says, looking unspeakably amused and just the slightest bit smug.

"I-" Kagami huffs out a breath, shaking his head with grin before pulling Tobirama close again to press another kiss to the corner of his mouth. "You're ridiculous, you do know that, right?"

Tobirama just gives a slight hum, low and satisfied and just the tiniest bit relieved. "I didn't want to waste any more time," is all he says in response, his gaze flickering past Kagami to the ruins of the temple. "Life's too short already."

Given that shinobi currently have an average life expectancy of maybe forty _at best_ even during peacetime, Kagami can't help but agree. And given the fact that he's been irrevocably smitten with his friend for years now, he's all in favor of not wasting more time. But even so…

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" he asks, voice quiet and just slightly uncertain.

Tobirama gives a faint grimace of what seems to be embarrassment, and Kagami is reminded of the fact that Tobirama is more demonstrative than declarative; he feels emotions just as strongly as anyone else, if not more so, but _expressing_ those emotions can be difficult for him.. "I…didn't want to pressure you into anything," he says after a moment. "Just in case you…didn't share my feelings. I…love you," he adds, tone somehow both sincere and awkward at the same time as a pale flush creeps up his pale cheeks.

Kagami stars at him, torn between the urge to laugh and the urge to cry. "For a genius," he says at last, "you can be _such_ an idiot sometimes." Then he does laugh, and drags Tobirama into another kiss. "I love you, too," he tells him once they surface for air again. "I have for a while."

_It'll only ever be you_ , he doesn't say, but he knows that Tobirama can hear it in his voice regardless; they know each other too well by now for anything less. And Kagami is, after all, an Uchiha; as much as he differs from his clansmen in some respects, his unwavering devotion to those he loves is not one of those differences. Because Uchiha love and love fiercely, and in that Kagami is an Uchiha through and through.

He loves Tobirama with his entire being, body and soul; he will until the day he dies and that's just a fact.

It's unspeakably reassuring to know that he's not alone in that love, to know that Tobirama returns his feelings. It's more than he'd ever thought to have, and it's enough to make him feel like his heart might burst from sheer joy at any moment. "Let's go home," he says now, leaning forward to rest forehead lightly against Tobirama's. "Okay?"

Because he loves Tobirama and Tobirama loves him, and there's nothing more he wants in this moment than to leave the broken ruins of the creepy death temple behind them and return home to Konoha, where they can spend the next week in bed and let some other team of unlucky bastards deal with whatever disturbing mission crops up next.

"Okay," Tobirama agrees easily, but then immediately follows it up with, "Just as soon as we've finished placing the containment seals."

Kagami groans, long and loud and entirely disgruntled, because he's hardly a fuinjutsu expert but he's gleaned enough knowledge over the years from his friendship with Tobirama to know that laying down the appropriate seals to safeguard the remnants of the temple-turned-tomb will take at least a few hours. "I hate you," he moans.

Tobirama just smirks, crimson eyes warm. "No, you don't."

"No, I don't," Kagami agrees with a sigh, and steals another kiss just because he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's that! I hope you guys liked how it all worked out. I struggled a bit with certain parts of it, but all in all I'm pretty satisfied with the overall narrative so I hope you enjoyed it, too. ;D
> 
> Oh, also! I just started writing another Tobirama/Kagami fic, titled "you've got ten more thousand miles to go (because you're one of the living)". It's actually a time travel fix-it fic of sorts, because apparently that's something I'm into lately, lol. XD Anyway, if you like my writing and you like this rare pair, feel free to drop by; I should have the first chapter posted by the end of the day. ;)


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